Lepidoptera) in the Collections of the Manchester Museum
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Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 155: 77–106 doi: 10.31184/M00138908.1552.3970 © Pemberley Books Sphingidae (Lepidoptera) in the collections of the Manchester Museum BY CLAIRE MILES Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL; e-mail: [email protected] Article history: Received: 15 August 2018; Accepted: 19 September 2018; Published: 26 April 2019 ABSTRACT There are over 2,400 Sphingidae (hawkmoths) held in the Manchester Museum’s Lepidoptera collections, distributed among separate British and worldwide sections. This summary provides a full species list and brings information about the collections and collectors together in one place to encourage the use of the collections for academic or personal research, or for creative inspiration. Keywords: Hawkmoths, C.H. Schill, P.H. Schill, J. Sidebotham, Manchester Entomological Society INTRODUCTION The collections of arthropods in the Manchester Museum, one of the UK’s largest university museums, hold more than three million specimens. About two and a half million of these are insects, making the entomological collection probably the third largest in the UK (Logunov & Merriman 2012; Logunov 2012). Of these insects, more than 150,000 are butterflies and moths, arranged into separate British and foreign sections. Published descriptions of the Lepidoptera collections at the Manchester Museum cover the general collection of British Lepidoptera (Logunov 2012), Joseph Sidebotham’s Lepidoptera (Cook & Logunov 2016), David Longsdon’s collection of swallowtail butterflies (Dockery & Logunov 2015), the small Sphingidae collection of Michael J. Adams and George I. Bernard (Miles 2018), and a description of the unusual Lepidoptera collection of William Raymond Wooff by Michael Dockery and Dmitri Logunov (2018). The data provided below are based on taxonomy following Kitching (2018). Accession numbers for collections are provided in brackets e.g. (MANCH.Fxxxx), and the following abbreviations are used: MMEA – the Manchester Museum’s Entomological Archive, M.E.S. – Manchester Entomological Society. SPHINGIDAE AT THE MANCHESTER MUSEUM The Sphingidae at the Manchester Museum are contained in five Lepidoptera collections, those of C.H. Schill (worldwide), P. Schill (Palaearctic), J. Sidebotham (probably mostly British), R. Wooff (Afrotropical, New World and European), and the general British Lepidoptera collection. In total, there are 2,220 pin-mounted adult specimens, 59 larvae and 38 pupae, also pin-mounted, eight eggs, and 104 papered specimens. These represent 288 worldwide Sphingidae species and subspecies in 96 genera, out of a current world Sphingidae fauna of 1,602 species in 78 Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine (2019) Vol. 155 205 genera (Kitching et al. 2018), i.e. approximately 18% of the world fauna. A complete list of species is given in Appendix 1. Table 1 summarises the taxonomic scope of the collections and Table 2 shows the distribution of the specimens between the various Lepidoptera collections. BRITISH SPHINGIDAE The British Sphingidae are held in the general British Lepidoptera collection, the J. Sidebotham collection, and the W.R. Wooff collection. In total these contain 842 Sphingidae specimens representing 17 species. Table 3 summarises the British species and numbers of specimens in each collection. A. THE BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA COLLECTION The general British Lepidoptera collection contains over 50,000 Lepidoptera specimens although this is an underestimate as to date not all have been counted and recorded in the museum database. There are 1,653 species represented, around 61% of British species (Logunov 2012). The collection is based on Hugh Nicholas Michaelis’ collection of Macrolepidoptera acquired in 1959 (MANCH.F2414) (Report 1958–59) and 1962–63 (MANCH.F2461, F2471). Michaelis (1904–95) was a Manchester bank manager and an expert lepidopterist and collector. He published 29 papers on Lepidoptera and was president of the M.E.S. 1938–39 and 1958–59 (Cook & Logunov 2017). Michaelis acquired the collection of W.P. Stocks in the 1940s and amalgamated it with his own. Stocks was a founder member of the M.E.S., described by Michaelis as his ‘mentor and encourager’ in his early days of collecting (Letter to Colin Johnson, 15 Oct. 1990, MMEA, M.E.S. archive, Box 1, Item 28). Around 840 species of Macrolepidoptera were collected by John Ray Hardy, mainly from Sherwood Forest between 1879 and 1900. These moths provided the reference material for Hardy’s paper on that subject (Hardy 1901). Hardy (1844– 1921) was the first Assistant Keeper of Entomology at the Manchester Museum, appointed in 1888, and another founder member of the M.E.S. During his time as Assistant Keeper, he was instrumental in acquiring many exotic specimens, including the C.H. Schill Lepidoptera collection (see below) (Johnson 1996; Logunov 2010). Other more recent incorporations into the British Lepidoptera collection include Michaelis’ collection of Microlepidoptera, donated in 1964 (Cook 2018), which includes much local material from Cheshire and Lancashire dating from 1910–1960 (Logunov 2010). R.C.R. Crewdson’s collection of Noctuidae, Geometridae and other families (MANCH.F2708) was donated in 1978, originally in three 20-drawer cabinets plus documentation. Crewdson (1902–1978) was an active member of the M.E.S. (President in 1957) and authored two papers on Microlepidoptera (Cook & Logunov 2017). A collection of 268 British moths and butterflies from the Trafford Museum was added when it closed in 1983, including nine sphingids (MMEA, M.E.S. archive, Box 1, Item 47). Curatorial Assistant Philip Rispin recently completed the mammoth task of incorporating all the British Lepidoptera into a single collection arranged in taxonomic order, and all individual collections, with the exception of part of the TABLE 1. TAXONOMIC SUMMARY OF MOUNTED SPHINGIDAE AT THE MANCHESTER MUSEUM Subfamily Tribe Subtribe Genera Species + Adults Larvae Pupae Eggs subspecies Langiinae 1 1 1 Macroglossinae Dilophonotini Dilophonotina 13 34 172 Entomologist’s MonthlyMagazine Entomologist’s Philampelina 7 22 115 Hemarini 2 11 156 1 1 Acosmerygina 2 5 18 Choerocampina 11 66 634 18 10 Clarinina 4 6 17 Macroglossina 10 39 199 4 1 ‘Sphingonaepiopsis genus-group’ 2 3 9 Unplaced Macroglossini 3 4 15 2 Smerinthinae ‘Polyptychus genus-group’ 1 1 4 Ambulycini 6 8 33 Leucophlebiini 2 2 2 Mimatini 2 2 88 2 2 Sataspedini 1 2 4 (2019) Vol. 155 (2019) Vol. Sichiini 1 5 22 1 Smerinthini 4 15 257 12 7 8 Unplaced Smerinthinae 4 5 19 1 Sphinginae Sphingini Acherontiina 3 6 163 6 6 Cocytiina 3 6 21 1 Sphingina 10 35 233 6 8 ‘Psilogramma genus-group’ 1 4 15 5 Sphingulini 2 3 3 ‘Australian Sphingulini’ 1 1 1 Undetermined 19 2 1 TOTAL 96 286 2220 59 38 8 79 80 Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine (2019) Vol. 155 TABLE 2. SUMMARY OF COLLECTIONS CONTAINING MOUNTED SPHINGIDAE AT THE MANCHESTER MUSEUM No. of specimens* Collection Genera Species and Adults Larvae Pupae Eggs Total subspecies C.H. Schill Worldwide Lepidoptera 94 270 1059 (4) 13 (2) 5 (1) 1077 P. Schill Palaearctic Lepidoptera 17 35 374 24 8 406 British Lepidoptera 12 17 619 22 25 8 674 J. Sidebotham Lepidoptera 11 15 158 (1) 158 W.R. Wooff Lepidoptera 6 6 10 10 Total 2220 59 38 8 2325 *Numbers in brackets determined to genus only J. Sidebotham collection (see below), have been rehoused and amalgamated in 405 new plastazote-lined, glass-topped drawers (Fig. 1) in pest-proof, stainless steel cabinets. The Sphingidae occupy 14 of these drawers. There are 17 species in 12 genera, that is all the nine hawkmoth species native to Britain and the eight regular immigrants (see Table 3). In total, there are 619 adult specimens, 22 larvae, and 25 pupae, all pin-mounted, and eight eggs glued to pin-mounted card. Of those hawkmoths with locality data (about 65% of specimens), 87% are from England, and more than half of those are from Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Cheshire, as might be expected given the donors’ connections to the area, and their association with the M.E.S. Of the rest, eight are from Scotland, 11 from Wales, and 35 are from other parts of the world. The collectors named on the specimen labels reflect the strong association between the M.E.S and the Manchester Museum. The M.E.S. operated from 1902 to 1991, and the first President, William Evans Hoyle (1855–1926) was also the first Keeper of the Manchester Museum, where the Society’s meetings were held jointly with the Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society (Cook & Logunov 2017). W.P. Stocks contributed 53 of the hawkmoths in the collection, with dates 1903– 1930, the majority of these with localities in North West England. At least 32 were reared from larvae or ova. R.C.R. Crewdson contributed 43 hawkmoths, mostly from the North West, between 1927 and 1958. Other collectors include M.E.S. members H.N. Michaelis, J.R. Hardy, B.H. Crabtree (1862–1950, also a member of the Manchester Museum Committee for 20 years), L. Nathan, R. Tait (1869–1939, founder member of M.E.S. and President 1907–08), A.E. Tonge (one-time President of M.E.S) (Cook & Logunov 2017) and Alan Brindle (1915–2001), Keeper of Entomology at the Manchester Museum 1961–1982. Further hawkmoth contributions were provided by R. Goff (26 from Norfolk and Lincolnshire 2001–2008, ten captive bred); Roy Leverton (16); Philip Rispin, current Curatorial Assistant at the Manchester Museum (15 from Stretford); Colin Johnson, former Keeper of Entomology at the Manchester Museum (seven from Cornwall and Manchester); Horace Rupert Last (1908–1995) (three, of which two were bred and one ex-ova from London Zoo); H.G. Allcard (moths from Switzerland!); R.N. Baxter (three pupae from ova, 1980–81), and Leonard Woods Newman (1873–1949), who supplied entomologists with stock from his butterfly Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine (2019) Vol.